As Elvis Presley’s fame increased during the late fifties, his security needed to grow with it. The King moved himself and his extended family into Graceland in 1957, where his Uncle Travis Smith was hired as a guard at the front gates.
Aside from having family members as security guards, Elvis also installed surveillance systems inside the Memphis mansion.
Express.co.uk previously took part in a virtual tour of the Graceland mansion and as archivist Angie Marchese showed fans around the kitchen, she pointed out the surveillance system on the counter.
The Elvis expert said: “When you’re touring Graceland you might have noticed the security cameras.
“Well, these are the monitors here in the kitchen. There’s also some in Vernon’s office and some upstairs in Elvis’ bedroom.”
Angie continued: “The cameras are still in use today. This was a security system Elvis had added in the sixties, so he could kind of see what was going on here at Graceland whenever he was here. He really had an open-door policy that if you were a friend of his and you wanted to bring somebody out to Graceland, Graceland was your house too. So you could bring anyone out you wanted to. The only place that no one was allowed to go was upstairs, without being personally invited by Elvis himself.”
The King also liked to examine the cameras in his bedroom to get a feel for who was in the house before coming downstairs himself.
Aside from cameras, when he moved in back in 1957, Elvis had a privacy wall installed on the first-floor landing that can be seen from the entrance hall to this day. There’s even a couple of one-way mirrors in the wall so The King could see who was coming into his private space.
Angie shared from the bottom of the mains staircase: “If we were to go upstairs [which we can’t because it’s off-limits to the public], Elvis’ bedroom is kind of above the living room. His bathroom and changing area are above the [front] doorway and his wardrobe room is above the dining room. So Elvis’ bedroom suite pretty much covers the entire front of the mansion. Above Gladys’ room is Elvis’ office and then above the kitchen area is Lisa’s bedroom.”
